A/N: It's been a lot of stress and chaos at work due to this global health crisis we're in. Yet, I find myself with these odd pockets of time. Add that to the fact that I've started listening to music again, I was going to end up writing at some point. Well, that point was today and since I've got Molliarty on the brain and all this talk of 'distancing', I came up with this little thing. Hope you like. x

Tragedy

There was that expression, was there not? That 'parting was such sweet sorrow'. It was Molly who had reminded him that it had come from Shakespeare, more specifically, Shakespeare's character, Juliet.

"Well, they all died in the end anyway," Jim had remarked. "Maybe they should have just been together a little more."

He should have known at the time that a response like that would have been as good as giving his heart away – if you could call it a heart.

"It's what they call tragedy, Jim," Molly had replied with a chuckle. How her laugh alwaysundid him would mystify him to the end of time.

Perhaps it had been her laugh or the fact that he was starting to feel the slight inebriation of the bottles of wine they had been sharing, but Jim recalled turning to her, his eyes wide and unusually earnest.

"Are we a tragedy, Molly Hooper?" he had asked. The moment he had said it, the word seemed to echo in his mind like he had gone mad. Tragedy. It had most certainly been the wine.

"What are you on about," she had replied, smiling before kissing him gently on the side of his face. Carefully, she had taken his wine glass away from him and placed it on the table before them.

Jim had let her take his glass and watched as she positioned it carefully before she turned to face him. There had been that breathtaking gentleness in her eyes that always caused that strange surge in his ribcage.

"It's time," said Molly. She placed a hand on his cheekbone and drew him in for another kiss.
"No, no, wait there's definitely five more minutes," he remembered arguing, taking her hands in his and kissing them.
"Perhaps," she had said with a light chuckle, "But we both agreed to do this."

Parting had been such sweet sorrow. He remained at his vantage point atop the roof of the bank he was currently robbing and stared down at the dead, empty street. Why had this evening brought in memories of them both? And of all memories, the one of the evening they had parted?

Jim was alone and so allowed himself to laugh quietly in the dark. How could it be that their matchwas also their greatestmismatch. He could not be part of her life and she was certainly not going to be a part of his. Yet, out of all the sorrows he could recall, Molly had undoubtedly been the sweetest.

"A tragedy," he whispered, clicking his tongue as he drummed his fingers absentmindedly against his mobile phone.

Jim was momentarily interrupted by the buzz of his phone and the faint sounds of distant police sirens headed in his direction. He glanced casually at the message on the screen and saw that the heist had been a success and his lackeys were already well on their way to one of his vaults. Jim had ample time to exit the building as the police were not near enough for him to worry.

When he was safely out of the building, he saw that a small crowd had formed and he had been hoping for this. Jim had this little habit of mingling at the scenes of his big heists and kidnappings. It always seemed terribly fun to soak in the chaos, just for a little bit. He was dressed casually of course and blended seamlessly into the small crowd, frowning in curiosity just like everyone else.

He stood with a group of people and watched in mock worry as the police put up barricades and sealed off the entire perimeter of the bank.

"Sorry, sir, could you move back a little, please," asked one of the officers as she pushed up a police barricade right against Jim and his little gang of spectators.
"Yeah, yeah of course," Jim answered, shifting back quickly, acting the perfect concerned, obliging citizen. There were murmurs everywhere and just for fun, Jim would engage in the chatter with the people around him.

As he was happily enjoying his charade of chatting with concerned bystanders, he caught a glimpse of a very, very familiar face. His conversation stopped mid-air as he turned from whomever it had been and looked straight ahead at the face in another group of bystanders across from him.

Molly had been waiting to catch his eye and smirked when she saw that she had succeeded. She raised an eyebrow and gestured to him to leave the crowd. Jim nodded wordlessly and found himself pushing through the crowd to get to her. He saw that they had both separated from the crowd but Molly had begun walking away. Needless to say, he followed her swiftly, catching up with her just as she turned into a small, quiet alley.

Before they knew it, they continued their wordless exchange with a kiss they had both been thinking about for a very long time. Molly quite literally dug her fingers into his sides as she pulled him towards her. Jim had never been more grateful to be out of breath as they took each other in. How long had it been since his lips had met hers?

With soft gasps, both of them pulled apart but only with an inch between their faces as they laughed quietly at the sheer delight of having found each other again.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, punctuating his question with another kiss on her lips. She was rightthere, how was he to resist?
"I came to see you," Molly replied with a grin, "I'd heard there was a bank robbery…"

Their foreheads touched as the pair of them laughed at the absurdity of their current moment. Here there were, escaping like truant teenagers in a quiet alley, when both of them knew that in any other circumstance, with the knowledge they had of each other, she would either be dead, or he would have been in cuffs.

"It's such a pity," Molly whispered, smiling wistfully as she leaned to kiss him on the side of his beautiful face.
"It really is," Jim replied, gritting his teeth a little as the bitter sweetness of their mismatch began to hit him again.

She felt the tension in his skin and brought both palms to his face and looked gently into his eyes. Their magic worked and he exhaled, his handsome smirk returning to his face.

"Should I not have come to see you?" asked Molly in earnest.
"No…no! I am so glad you did," Jim replied, grinning widely as he pulled her in and held her.

Molly wrapped her arms around Jim as her whole body sank into him, relishing this proximity that she had missed. His arms tightened around her, echoing her exact sentiments. How he had missed her, how he had missed themlike this.

Jim shut his eyes and turned to kiss her hair, realising what an unexpected gift this evening had been. He had not dared think about whether he was ever going to see her again. After tonight, he knew it was going to be harder to keep that question out of his mind.

"Maybe I should commit more crimes," he said with a laugh, burying his face into her perfect brown tresses.

There was that laugh from her again. It really was most tragic that he would possibly never hear it after tonight.

"I never thought I'd say this," Molly said, smiling against his chest, "but maybe you should."

END